BlackSky advances to final phase in IARPA's SMART Program to enhance Broad Area Search

BlackSky advances to final phase in IARPA's SMART Program to enhance Broad Area Search
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jan 31, 2024

BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY), a leader in geospatial intelligence and global monitoring, has achieved a significant milestone by advancing to the third and final phase of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity's (IARPA) multi-year Space-based Machine Automated Recognition Technique (SMART) program. This progression underscores BlackSky's pivotal role in enhancing the capabilities of broad area search missions using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The SMART program, spearheaded by IARPA, is a testament to the U.S. government's commitment to integrating cutting-edge AI and machine learning operations (MLOps) into national security and intelligence operations. BlackSky's innovative approach in this domain has not only propelled them to the forefront of the program but also demonstrated the scalability and efficiency of their technology in operational settings.

Patrick O'Neil, BlackSky's Chief Technology Officer, elaborated on the company's journey in the SMART program, stating, "BlackSky built a high-performance machine learning operations (MLOps) architecture for the SMART program that was originally designed to manage the analysis of one million square kilometers of land." This foundational technology, he noted, is now generating significant value in other U.S. government search and discovery efforts, analyzing over 30 million square kilometers of the Earth's surface each month.

The broad area search and discovery techniques, central to BlackSky's mission in the SMART program, are crucial for intelligence organizations. They provide a wide-angle, baseline picture of aggregate change over time across large swathes of the Earth's surface. This approach is essential for monitoring and understanding global developments, from environmental changes to security-related activities.

BlackSky's performance in the program has been notable, especially in the deployment and evaluation of AI change detection tools within their MLOps architecture. O'Neil highlighted the company's achievements, saying, "BlackSky is using AI to reshape the broad area search mission with industry-leading speed and economics." The lessons learned from the initial phases of the SMART program have been integrated back into BlackSky Spectra, enhancing its operational efficacy.

The core technology developed under the SMART program has led BlackSky's AI tools to detect and classify more than two million change observations with high accuracy over 120 thousand distinct sites. This feat was accomplished after analyzing five years of historic broad area satellite imagery from various government and commercial sources.

BlackSky's advancement in the SMART program and the continued development of their Spectra software platform represent a significant leap in space-based AI capabilities. The scalability and speed of their MLOps architecture offer promising prospects not only for broad area search missions but also for the broader application in other U.S. government programs.